Monthly Archives: June 2016

Google services are some of the most reliable on the web, but even Google can’t guarantee 100% uptime. Many users (including most of us on the AP team) are seeing an error message when attempting to access Google Calendar online. These things are bound to happen roughly once in a blue moon, but it’s always a bit of a surprise when it does.

So far, Google hasn’t released any official statement, but Calendar’s app status page reports a service disruption which is currently being investigated.

Sony isn’t making the most compelling Android phones these days, but it does at least try to put out good software. It’s one of the most developer-friendly OEMs and it was even the first to release the N preview on non-Nexus hardware. Now, Sony has the distinction of being the first to do something else. The latest version of the Xperia Home beta has a Google Now pane just like the Google Now Launcher—no other OEM has done this on its custom launcher.

The early reactions to Motorola’s new generation of hardware have been tepid at best. Even so, if you’re one of the people looking forward to the recently-announced US launch for the 2016 version of the Moto G and the new G Plus, Motorola is hoping to sweeten the pot on the already budget-priced phones. Both Best Buy and B&H Photos are offering free $ 50 gift cards to their respective stores for early buyers.

Sony is now accepting pre-orders for its line of Xperia X phones in the US, including the X and X Performance. We’ve already covered the Xperia X in detail, learning that it’s a disappointing phone. But what of the top-of-the-line Xperia X Performance? It solves a few of the issues with the Xperia X, but it comes with a much higher $ 700 price tag. Is this the Sony phone you should buy, or should you buy none of them?

One of the handier voice commands that users can give to Google Now is “remind me to [whatever],” which will automatically start a function that adds a reminder and alarm to the cards. Follow that up with a specific time or day, and it will make the necessary adjustments to your command. Now it’s even faster: the dialogue used to create a short countdown in the form of a blue line.

Meizu is using technology that violates Qualcomm’s patents without the usual licensing rigmarole, and Qualcomm isn’t gonna take it anymore. So it is alleged in Qualcomm’s press release, announcing a complaint against the up-and-coming Chinese manufacturer in the Beijing Intellectual Property Court. Qualcomm says that Meizu has refused to negotiate “in good faith” to license particular patents, especially those related to 3G and LTE radio standards, though the precise patents in question aren’t delineated.

Welcome to the latest entry in our Bonus Round series, wherein we tell you all about the new Android games of the day that we couldn’t get to during our regular news rounds. Consider this a quick update for the dedicated gamers who can’t wait for our bi-weekly roundups, and don’t want to wade through a whole day’s worth of news just to get their pixelated fix. Today we have a unique roguelike, a zen garden game, two takes on Snake, a surprising military sim, a simple racer, and the sequel to The Sandbox.

The update to Google Maps v9.31 brought a couple of fixes for users on Android N developer previews, not to mention some other small changes for everybody. But the most interesting things about this version are still buried below the surface. Yesterday, I covered support for offline maps to be installed on an SD card, and now it’s time to dig into the rest of the teardown. If SD card support weren’t enough, there are a couple of other features here that have been hotly requested for some time, so it’s pretty clearly the Maps team is working hard to fill out the feature set for users.

Motorola is headed into the summer with the Moto Z at the top of the roster, but the 2015 flagship Moto X Pure is still available too. In fact, you might prefer this phone to the new modular devices Motorola is pushing. With that in mind, B&H is looking to get some Moto X Pure stock off its hands with sizable discounts and some free microSD cards.

For the more budget-conscious, there’s the 16GB Moto X Pure for $ 239.99.

Google formalized the update guarantee for Nexus devices last year in the wake of the Stage Fright vulnerability, but now it’s gone a step further by listing the approximate end-of-life (EOL) dates on its support site. Google added this data at some point in the last few weeks, but it has only now been noticed.